The Archives of Falconry

06/20/2026

Every donation to The Archives of Falconry has a story behind it.

Let’s take a look as Executive Director John Goodell opens a recent donation from California falconer Garet Helms, revealing a generous collection of falconry hoods and state club memorabilia.

What makes The Archives unique is that the collection is built largely by the falconry community itself. Donations like these help preserve the history and craftsmanship of falconry for future generations.

The hoods in this donation will become part of a collection of more than 1,000 hoods spanning many makers and countries, providing an invaluable reference for hood makers, researchers, and anyone interested in the history and evolution of hood design.
Thank you, Garet, for helping preserve and share falconry’s heritage through your donation.

Anyone with falconry-related books, letters, art, or other items available for potential donation, please email us with a brief description of the items to: [email protected]

06/18/2026

A new short film from The Archives of Falconry explores the personal history and exacting sport of Brian Mutch, revered upland gamehawker and longtime raptor biologist with The Peregrine Fund.

As told through personal interviews, historical photos and film, and spectacular new footage from the field, the story (featuring Brian and brother Dale Mutch, and others) provides a unique glimpse into a falconer's life, and their passion for peregrines, grouse, and the grasslands found along the front range of the Rocky Mountains.

A Falconer's Life was produced and directed by Dakkan Abbe and Matthias Roeckl of Trivium Films, with executive production by TAF's John Goodell and support from Brian and Dale Mutch, Bob Berry, Pete Widener, and others. Additional footage and photography courtesy: Zach Andres; Steve Chindgren; Gerald Geiger; Jon Groves; and The Peregrine Fund.

This new short film (released June, 2026) from The Archives of Falc...

06/17/2026

This lithograph by A.F. Payne shows an Australian brown goshawk defeathering its prey within a dense bramble patch.

Signed by the artist and numbered 185/900, the piece is preserved as part of the The Archives of Falconry collection.

View the catalog record:
https://falconry.catalogaccess.com/objects/315

06/15/2026

Spring and early summer are a busy time for birds of prey, and these photographs offer a glimpse into the nesting season of American kestrels nearly ninety years ago.

This series of photographs of American kestrel nestlings was taken in Pennsylvania in 1937 by R. M. Stabler and Bill Drake of the Pennsylvania Game Commission. The images capture young kestrels at various stages of development, documenting their growth and nest sites.

The American kestrel is North America’s smallest falcon and is flown by many falconers today. These photographs provide a historical look at the species and preserve a record of efforts to observe and document birds of prey.

Take a closer look at this series of American kestrel photographs through the collection record:
https://falconry.catalogaccess.com/photos/10791

06/13/2026

Published in 1865, “Falconers’ Favourites” by William Brodrick is a notable illustrated work in falconry literature, featuring six life-size colored lithographs of birds used in falconry, all drawn and lithographed by the author.

Among the birds featured are Comet, a peregrine tiercel, Shark, a goshawk, and Hurricane, a young female peregrine. Additional plates depict a sparrowhawk, hobby, and merlin, each accompanied by descriptive text.

Collections Committee member Bill Barbour shared that Falconers’ Favourites was published as a sequel to Falconry in the British Isles and was issued in a limited edition of just 100 copies. Bill also noted that only one of the original paintings created for the work is known to survive today, making the lithographs preserved in this volume an important record of Brodrick’s artwork.

This copy of Falconers’ Favourites is preserved in The Archives of Falconry’s Bibliotheca Falconaria, part of the Karl-Heinz Gersmann Library.

View this volume’s library record:
https://falconry.catalogaccess.com/library/7530

06/11/2026

Step inside the Sheikh Zayed Falconry Heritage Wing at The Archives of Falconry and explore a remarkable exhibit dedicated to the history, artistry, and traditions of Arab falconry.

The wing honors the legacy of His Highness, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan (1918–2004), the founding father of the United Arab Emirates. A lifelong devotee of traditional Bedu falconry, Sheikh Zayed played an important role in preserving and promoting the cultural heritage of falconry throughout the Arab world.

Made possible through a generous gift from his son, His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, the exhibit celebrates the enduring traditions of falconry and their lasting influence on falconers around the world.

Originally dedicated in 2006 and thoughtfully renovated in 2021–2022, the wing features a wide variety of objects, artwork, equipment, and displays connected to falconry heritage in the Arabian Peninsula.

Visitors to The Archives can experience this unique exhibit during regular hours and discover an important part of global falconry history in person.

06/09/2026

Today, on International Archives Day, we celebrate the importance of preserving the history of falconry for future generations.

The Archives of Falconry began with a simple but important question. In the early 1980s, as falconry pioneers passed away, valuable records, photographs, correspondence, and personal collections were often lost with them. In “An Ancient Sport in the New World,” Kent Carnie recounts a conversation with falconer Walter Hill, who asked what should become of his falconry materials after his passing. There was no clear answer.

As Kent wrote, “A problem seemed to be in the offing. How to preserve the record of our history?”

That question led ultimately to the creation of The Archives of Falconry.

One example of that mission can be seen in the collections related to the late falconer and pioneering biologist Tom Cade’s work in Alaska. Field notebooks, photographs, slides, research reports, oral history interviews, books, articles, maps, and personal artifacts all help tell the story of his contributions to falconry, raptor conservation, and the recovery of the Peregrine falcon.

As Archives Curator Monica Dean notes, items from across multiple collections together create a fuller picture of a person or event in the history of falconry. Each notebook, photograph, oral history, publication, map, and artifact contributes another piece of the historical record.

In Monica’s words, “It all works together to flesh out the history of falconry.”

International Archives Day serves as a reminder that no historical record is too small to matter. The notes, photographs, journals, correspondence, and memorabilia that may seem insignificant today can become an important part of preserving falconry’s history tomorrow.

The images featured here represent only a small portion of these collections. Each image links to a larger collection record with additional photographs, documents, publications, oral histories, and other materials to explore. Enjoy!

06/07/2026

Earlier this year, TAF's John Goodell fielded questions about the long history and practice of falconry in a podcast hosted by naturalist and author Scott Harris. In this wide-ranging discussion, John dispels some common misconceptions about the nature of the relationship between falconers and our birds, describing the sport as a willing partnership between species and noting falconry's negligible impacts on wildlife resources.

A particular point of interest arises with the mention of Italian explorer Christopher Columbus's second voyage to the Americas in 1493, which included a professional falconer from the court of Spain's King Ferdinand II with a royal mandate to: "Send us all the falcons from there that you can."

Podcast link: https://youtu.be/bGOMN6Uh0pU?si=aFk2t6P7a2DC4qA8

See more in TAF's Timeline of Falconry online exhibit: https://falconry.org/virtual_exhibits/falconry_timeline/

Look for more on the history of early European expeditions to discover new falconry birds in TAF's June Newsletter (subscribe here: falconry.org/signup)

In this episode of Naturally Scott, Scott sits down with John Goode...

06/05/2026

On the first Friday of each month, we highlight falconers leading conservation efforts. This month, we are featuring Richele and Annabelle Levins.

Richele and Annabelle are falconers working in Arizona through the Arizona Raptor Center, a network established in 2017 and run by falconers to advance raptor rehabilitation and integrate falconer expertise into conservation work. The Center operates statewide through a network of agents who run satellite locations, responding to sick and injured raptors while also addressing community needs through education and conservation.

Based in Tucson, Richele and Annabelle provide around 70 raptor education events each year, focusing on raptor biology and ecology while empowering people to make choices that support urban raptor populations.

In January 2026, they announced a new initiative, “Project Re-nest,” aimed at moving rehabilitation models in their area away from raising healthy birds in controlled settings. Instead, the project focuses on giving orphaned raptors a second chance in the wild through re-nesting into their original nests or foster placements with the same species. If those options are not successful, falconry based hacking techniques are implemented as a final step.

This work depends on strong collaborations with falconers, birders, photographers, and volunteers to find placements quickly. In its first four months, the project has already led to numerous successful re-nests and foster placements, with many documented to help share this approach and support broader conservation efforts.

To learn more about their work, visit the Arizona Raptor Center:
https://arizonaraptorcenter.org

06/03/2026

June 3 marks the birth of Gage Earle Freeman (1820–1903), one of the leading figures in 19th century British falconry.

Known to readers of The Field magazine under the pseudonym “Peregrine,” Freeman devoted much of his life to hawking and became especially respected for his work with peregrines, goshawks, merlins, and sparrowhawks. His expertise was widely recognized by fellow falconers, including Lord Lilford, who later wrote that Freeman “did more to keep English falconers in the right way than any of his contemporaries.”

In 1859, Freeman co-authored “Falconry, Its Claims, History and Practice” with Captain Francis Henry Salvin, a work that remains an important contribution to falconry literature. Beyond falconry, he was also an accomplished poet and four-time recipient of Cambridge University’s Seatonian Prize.

Today, Freeman is remembered for both his influence on British falconry and his lasting contributions to falconry writing and history.

Learn more about his life and contributions in our catalog:
https://falconry.catalogaccess.com/people/159